Almost seven percent of U.S. adults—about 15.7 million people—are diagnosed with major depression disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that depression causes 200 million lost workdays each year at a cost to employers of between $17 billion and $44 billion. The statistics for anxiety disorders are not great either. The most common mental illnesses in the U.S., they affect 40 million adults age 18 and older, costing the economy more than $42 billion a year. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)—which noninvasively administers brief, magnetic pulses to the brain—is a less “shocking” approach than ECT, and is being used at major medical centers. The treatment, which must be done under medical supervision, consists of passing high currents through an electromagnetic coil adjacent to a patient’s scalp. The targeted magnetic pulses stimulate the circuits in the brain that are underactive in patients with depression, with the goal of restoring normal function and mood.
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/why-i-get-my-brain-zapped/
